In modern office designs, it is desirable to have furniture, such as work surfaces, removably mounted to the interior walls of a building and/or the freestanding walls of the so-called "open plan" office system in order to efficiently utilize a given amount of office space. To this end, work surfaces and the like, or supporting brackets to which the same are attached, are provided, on the rear portions thereof, with hooks or tabs adapted to engage vertical slotted standards rigidly secured to the interior or freestanding walls. It is also desirable to mount two or more work surfaces to a wall in side-by-side relationship and in the same horizontal plane. In this manner, one large work surface is formed, thereby providing a worker with greater work space, which is useful when, for example, a worker is required to lay on the work surface many documents for comparison purposes.
One inherent problem in mounting work surfaces in juxtaposed relationship is that the work surfaces having exerted thereon different loads are uneven, resulting in a visual problem. To circumvent this problem, devices securely interlocking the neighboring work surfaces, or the support brackets mounting the same, have been employed. These devices function as load equalizers to secure the work surfaces together in load transmitting relationship. Thus, if a force is exerted on one work surface, it will not be in part transmitted to the adjacent work surface.
For example, the U.S. Pat. No. to Brecher, 4,366,758, issued Jan. 4, 1983, discloses a device for joining a pair of tabletops together in end-to-end juxtaposition. The device comprising one brace rigidly secured at its top portion to the underside of one tabletop, and another brace rigidly secured at its top portion to the underside of the other tabletop. Both braces are rigidly secured together at their bottom portions. The braces are also connected to a support bracket common to both tabletops. In this manner, a rigid joint is created between the adjoining tabletops.
In addition, the U.S. Pat. No. to Larrea, 4,435,935, issued Mar. 13, 1984, discloses a device for joining a pair of panels and comprising a pair of resilient brackets positioned in grooves within adjacent sides of the panels in such a manner as to urge the panels together. A pair of bolts extend through the brackets and the panels on each side of the joint to securely join the panels. A pair of resilient joint covers are biased within the grooves to cover each side of the joint.
The U.S. Pat. No. to Scott, 3,594,028, issued July 20, 1971, discloses a pair of resilient clips for joining a pair of neighboring panels having a series of channels with restricted throats formed near the adjoining edges of the panels. Each clip has a central web portion and a tubular flange on each end of the web. One resilient clip is received within the channels on one side of the adjoining panels such that the tubular flanges snap over the restricted throats. The other resilient clip snap fits into the channels on the other side of the panels. The clips urge the panels together to form a tight joint between the same.
The foregoing devices, however, do not solve another problem associated with mounting work surfaces in side-by-side relationship to a wall. When so mounting work surfaces it is often difficult, if not impossible, to mount the work surfaces in the same horizontal plane. The result is an overall uneven work surface. This problem is the result of manufacturing tolerances in the work surfaces supporting elements, such as the vertical standards and the work surface support brackets, and human error in mounting the standards to the wall and assembling the supporting elements.
In view of the foregoing problems, it has been found desirable to provide a device which not only secures neighboring work surfaces together in load transmitting relationship, but also provides for vertical adjustment of the relative heights of the work surfaces.